A 14-year-old boy apparently lost control of a car he was driving early Friday morning and slammed it into a utility pole in the south end of San Francisco, killing two male teens in the back seat and sending a third to the hospital, police said.

The boy was behind the wheel of the maroon Suzuki sedan because a fifth man in the car, an 18-year-old, had allegedly let him drive, said San Francisco Police Lt. Lyn Tomioka. The car belongs to the 18-year-old man's father.

The driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving without a license. The 18-year-old whose father owns the car was arrested on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Tomioka said she couldn't remember the last time a driver so young had caused a fatal car crash in the city. Under California law, no one under the age of 15 1/2 is allowed to operate a motor vehicle.

"It's very unusual, especially at this time of night," she said. "Part of the investigation will be finding out from the parents of the 14-year-old what he was doing out like this.

"He is 14, and it was a school night."

The car hit the power pole about 12:45 a.m. on Ocean Avenue near Junipero Serra Boulevard, crushing the right rear passenger side and heaving two 18-year-old men out from the back seat. One of the men died at the scene and the other died shortly afterward at San Francisco General Hospital.

The dead men were identified by the city Medical Examiner's Office as Benjamin Powell of Hayward and Jonathan Johnson of Castro Valley. The others involved in the crash were not identified by authorities.

The third teen in the back, a 16-year-old boy, has critical life-threatening injuries and is being treated at General Hospital, said Tomioka. None of the three in the back was wearing a seat belt.

That boy and the two teens in the front seat were from the East Bay, Tomioka said, but she could not supply the city names. The two in the front were wearing seat belts and were not seriously injured, she said.